17 March 2023
Separating Substance from Procedure: How to Address the Israeli Constitutional Crisis
Many proposals to resolve the current Israeli constitutional crisis have been recently advanced. Yet, most of them are arguably unlikely to bring about a compromise. This is so not because their content cannot be accepted by the parties involved, but because they do not address the substantive concerns of the parties. Israel's constitutional crisis results from the fact that the parties to the conflict shape their proposals concerning the decision-making process in a way that is conducive to their short-term substantive interests. Any proposed solution must therefore separate substantive questions from procedural and institutional ones. Continue reading >>
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13 March 2023
Israels Staatsumbau
Israels neue rechtsreligiöse Regierung unter Benjamin arbeitet an einer Justizreform, die hunderttausende Demonstranten auf die Straße treibt und in der Kritik steht, den israelischen Rechtsstaat zu zerstören. Bei genauerer Betrachtung wird klar, dass es bei den Protesten nicht nur um die Reform selbst, sondern auch um grundlegende Fragen nach dem Charakter des jüdischen Staates und seiner Identität geht. Das israelische Rechtssystem steht schon immer stellvertretend für den Staat selbst. Die gespaltene israelische Gesellschaft streitet um das Verständnis von Demokratie, das Verhältnis von Religion und Staat und um die zukünftige Machtposition einzelner Gesellschaftsgruppen. Continue reading >>03 March 2023
In der Existenz bedroht
"In Ungarn geht es um das Ăśberleben der Demokratie. In Israel geht es um das Ăśberleben Israels." Continue reading >>
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03 March 2023
An Existential Threat
"In Hungary, it is about the survival of democracy. In Israel, it is about the survival of Israel." Continue reading >>
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21 February 2023
Israel’s New Citizenship Deprivation-Deportation Pipeline
Buried in the news on the Israeli Knesset’s judicial reform plans are two bills that substantially increase the government’s power to deprive citizenship and subsequently deport Palestinian citizens convicted of terrorism offences and their family members. One already passed into law last Wednesday, while the one targeting their family members is still making its way through committees. In this blog post we survey and evaluate the rationales used to justify these newly assumed powers and set out why their current design is so insidious. Continue reading >>
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10 February 2023
Statement by Canadian Law Professors and Jurists on the Proposed Legal Reforms in Israel
The undersigned are Canadian law professors and jurists. We write […] Continue reading >>
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01 February 2023
Israel: Cry, the Beloved Country
Israel, like many other democracies today, is a deeply polarized society. The operating principle of public discourse is typically: “Art thou for us or for our adversaries” (Joshua 5:13). It is thus telling that, in the recent eruption in response to Netanyahu’s new government plan to reform the judicial system, one sees groups whom one would have never expected on the anti-government side of the current protests. Continue reading >>19 January 2023
The Populist Constitutional Revolution in Israel
Israel’s Minister of Justice has published memorandums outlining the (first) major steps in the constitutional overhaul planned by Netanyahu’s new government – an overhaul at the epicenter of the rise of constitutional populism in Israel. The paradoxes of Israeli constitutional law make it vulnerable to such a populist attack, which occurs within a specific ethno-national context involving ongoing military occupation. Continue reading >>
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17 January 2023
A Possible Regime Change in Israel
Israel is rapidly undergoing a regime change/constitutional revolution - Hungary style - as reflected by various draft bills placed on the Knesset’s agenda during the past days, accompanied by a grand plan of reform presented by the Minister of Justice on January 4th. The new Israeli government only took office a few weeks ago, but these plans, evidently, were prepared carefully over several years. If successful, Israel may fully lose its democracy. Continue reading >>30 December 2022
The Theoretical Limits on the Override Power
In 2019, anticipating that Israel might one day adopt an express override mechanism that would enable the Israeli legislature (the Knesset) to override the Basic Laws (Israel’s Constitution), I developed a novel theoretical framework to limit the override power. With the new hard-right government, my theory might be tested in practice. I therefore want to make this theory available in English for international audiences. Continue reading >>
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